Vol. 12, Issue 2 (2023)

Author(s):
Surbhi Verma, SS Rao and Rajeev Shrivastava

Abstract:
In order to evaluate the association among yield components and their direct and indirect influence on seed yield of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), an experiment was carried out in a complete randomized block design with four replications using six crosses at Research cum Instructional Farm, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (IGKV), Raipur (C.G.) during rabi 2019-20, rabi 2020-21 and rabi 2021-22. Nine characters were recorded viz., days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height (cm), number of primary branches/plant, number of capitulum/plant, number of seeds/capitulum, 100 seed weight(g), seed yield/plant(g) and oil content (%). The phenotypic correlation among the traits and their path coefficients were estimated. Positive and significant correlations were observed between seed yield/plant and plant height, number of primary branches/plant, number of capitulum/plant, number of seeds/capitulum, 100 seed weight (g), oil content(g). Days to 50% flowering and days to maturity exhibited significant negative correlation with seed yield. Positive direct effects were exhibited for days to maturity, number of primary branches/plant, number of capitulum/plant, number of seeds/capitulum and oil content (%). Negative direct effects were observed for days to 50% flowering, plant height (cm) and 100 seed weight (g). Therefore, improvement of the seed yield will be efficient via selection for days to maturity, number of primary branches/plant, number of capitulum/plant, number of seeds/capitulum and oil content (%).